A fabric journal, a favorite to make

I still can't believe I pulled it off.   And yet, here is the proof.  It's a concertina spine fabric journal with my own hand dyed fabric inside.   The outside is a scrap of the quilt stash, and matched beautifully.   I rolled the spine beads from magazine pages.  Inside are 5 x 5 kraft envelopes, and I've tucked various papers inside, so when the urge to doodle strikes, I can have a choice of surfaces, from white, to black, to cream, to colored.

This little journal is easy.   Just fuse fabric to pelmet vilene or pellon, (I used Misty Fuse), zigzag the edges, Iron the folds into the spine, stitch tyvek strips along the inside spine edges, and glue the envelopes to the tyvek.  I added the beads when I was stitching the tyvek strips.
Have fun.  Whistle while you work.  Smile upon completion.  Fill with fanciful things.

Birthday Fun Journal

My sister, Ginny, had a birthday this week.   In our family, we get and give presents when we find them, even if it's not a birthday.  Through the year I collect presents to give, but when the day finally arrives, I can't find where I've stored them.....(much like my craft supplies, hmmm).   So, the night before our birthday breakfast, I was forced to come up with a last minute gift, until the time I clean something out and find the "real" birthday present.   I finished this little journal well before midnight.   The color is actually a very nice yellow....this doesn't show as well, for some reason.....maybe the room lighting.

And I found some cute stickers to add to the signature covers.

And the last page:

Inside the front page I added this, because Ginny is the one I turn to when I need a listening ear, and a completely supportive comment, and always the perfectly right thing I want to hear, as well as what I need to hear.   She's the best.

Happy First Birthday Present of the year, Ginny.   May you have many, many more, with love.

Landscape photos of Albion Basin

We live surrounded by one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world.  We take beauty for granted here.   But once in a while, I wake up to the fact that I'm missing some of it by.....well, blogging, for one....and eating...and fussing or worrying....you get the picture.   Yesterday was supposed to be the end of the Utah desert "monsoon" season (oxymoron?), so I ventured up to Little Cottonwood Canyon, home of the greatest snow on earth:  Snowbird and Alta ski resorts.
One word:  SPECTACULAR.    And although I am NOT a photographer, my point-and-shoot camera recorded evidence.